Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1887-03-31
WAHINGToN LETTER.
tFRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENCE
WASHINGTON, March 21, 1887.

held conventions here, while the ex-
cursionIsts have come by the thou
sand.
The presidents social duties have
not IN the least diminished with the
adjournment of congress. He ac-
corded the railroad representatives
special reception on one of his off
days, and yesterday afternoon when
he dropped his pen and papers and
came down to the east room at his
regular nour for shaking hands with
the great American public, he found
the crowd swelled bV the presence
of several hundred of the education
al dignitaries now in the city, and
the cultured gentlemen who repre-
sent the American ms titute of
C1vics.
The latter society has for its OBJ
ject the promotion of the study of
government and the spread of Mr..
Dorman R. Eaton's political philoso-
ply.
As the president smiled graciously
and shook hands with the superin-
tendents, he assured them that be
was always delighted to meet a body
of school teachers. ST was some
thing of school-teacher once my
self, you know" said he. land i
sometimes feel that l an something
of school teacher still.'' Every
school man in the line was presented
to the president by name. "Dr.
Lucky, of Pittsburg," said the intro
ducer, as al unusually handsome
gentleman stepped forward to grasp
the presidential hand. 1t had been
intended to have all the educators
in one compact body with no out
slider sandwiched between them, but
1t happened that very dilapidated
looking old tramp had gotten into
line just behind the fine looking man
from Pittsburg. AS the straggler
approached the president there was
a marked hiatus. No tongue could
tell his name. But the president
was equal to the situation. He ex-
tended his hand with unusual cordi-
atty and saidin an encouraging tone,
"How are you my friend? 1 sup
pose your name must be DIR. I'm
lucky Everybody in hearing of
the remark laughed and so did the
tramp. After leaving the White
House the pedagogues were photo
graphed in a group on the steps of
the State, War and Navy depart
ment building.
at one of the Mr.. Cleveland's re-
cent MONDAY receptions there ap-
peared at the end of the procession
a sharp looking man with short,
clean-shaven face and close-cut white
hair who proved to be Mr.. Edwin
Smith, one of the lawyers who de-
Tended James d. Fish when he was
ON trial in connection with the ruin
of the Marine National Bank. Mr..
Smith is working hard to have the
president pardon the old banker.
and thinks he will succeed. The
ground on which ne pleads for mercy
is that the old man has now been
punished as much as it is possible to
pnnish him, and that 1t would be in
mercy to his family to have him re-
leased. He says the. old man. 5
daughter has taken room in Au-
burn and haunts the penitentiary
like specter day and night.
At the educational convention the
superintendents have discussed civil
service reform. Those who spoke
on the subject were pretty nearly all
civil service reformers, rnd that sen.
tIment was loudly applauded by the
assemblage of men and women who
filled the hall of the National Mu-
scum where the sessions were held.
This reminds me of something that
representative Breckenridge, of Ken
lucky. recently said on the subject
He was speaking before the Virgins
Democratic Association about the
duties of Democrats to their party
The potency of Democracy in the
district of Columbia is fully demon.
strated, by the way, in the SIZE anC
enthusiasm Of the meetings of tht
different Democratic Association,
which are held from time to time
The Congressman from Kentucky
said that Democratic administra
tion, in the first year or two of its &C
cession to power, could not fulfill al
the hopes and expectations and an
ticipations of that event. 1t wa
enough that it had given the cool5trl
an honest and an able governn en-
and fully represented the publ,
opinion that produced it. Instead
of complaining of the civil servic'
laws and the fact that rhe RepublI
cans are not turned out of office a
fast as they might be, he said 1t wa
the duty of Democrats to endeavo
to make Democratic supremacy per
maneut and when this was accom-
plished, more of their hopes nigh
he realized